Day 76 - Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin

Took a shared taxi ride to Pyin Oo Lwin, about an hour drive north east of Mandalay and up in the mountains. The city itself was an old British hill station and is known for it's botanical gardens and cooler climate.

I decided to get a room at a hotel outside of the main part of the city, which isn't too big itself, but I wanted to just relax outside of the noise and traffic (which included horse-drawn carriages among the motorbikes and cars). I walked around the city for about an hour. There weren't too many foreigners around. I think I saw 4 other foreigners at a European bakery/cafe.

There were a couple other hotels, and I walked into one to inquire about the price, but they didn't have a government license to provide accommodations to foreigners.

I finally found a restaurant that served Spirulina beer. It tasted sweet, and a little bit vinegary...maybe it was on tap for too long... The best beer has definitely been Myanmar, and then Mandalay, and then Spirulina so far.

Spent the rest of the day just relaxing at the hotel. Watched a couple of movies on the television, which only had two channels. What's interesting is that someone (big brother maybe?) has control of which channel is being shown. I was in the middle of watching a Reese Witherspoon chick flick before the satallite channel changed to the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze surfer movie that I forgot the name of. It's funny because the whole city has to watch what this one person decides to watch for the night...

I'd spend tomorrow renting a bike to explore this small town, while figuring out how to get to the city of Hsipaw further northeast.

Buddhist Nuns

Believe it or not?

Horse carts are a popular mode of transportation in this small town

Simple Myanmar Cuisine (I forget the name, but it's pronounced "Lapadtamin"

Day 74 - Mandalay, Myanmar

I managed to get a whole row on the bus to myself, so the night was comfortable as I curled up to sleep through the night. Waking up in the morning and looking out the window was incredible, as I saw palm trees in the distance and various stupas scattered throughout the outskirts of the city.

The city of Mandalay itself was less chaotic than Yangon, but still a decently sized major city in Myanmar. All the sight-seeing was scattered around the city, and you would need to rent a bicycle, or hire a driver to take you around.

I ended up meeting a tourguide at the guesthouse I was staying at and he helped me plan the next day around the cities outside of Mandalay while dodging some of the mandatory governmental fees. He also suggested some of the sights that I should see while in the city.

I decided to walk around and head to Mandalay Hill, which would provide stunning views of the city. In the blazing sun, I walked about halfway to the bottom of the hill before realizing I was only HALF WAY to the bottom of the hill... Instead, I turned back and decided that I would rent a bicycle in the next few days and ride my way there since I underestimated how far it really was...

For dinner, I joined the two friends I met in Yangon and we made our way to a Burmese restaurant. When we arrived, we found out it was closed, so we had to walk another 15 blocks to the other location. Trying to bargain with the taxi drivers was futile, as they all quoted 3,000 kyat for the three of us. I think it's the standard fee for tourists to get anywhere around the town. We walked about halfway to the restaurant and it was still 3,000 kyat. Of course, it started to rain when we headed there, but we decided to walk the whole way since we had already covered so much ground already.

After dinner, we headed back to our guesthouse, but not before trying to find a local beer called “Spirulina” that had spirulina as one of the ingredients that would help you “live longer.” We couldn't find the beer, so we settled on a local restaurant serving the country's main beer, Myanmar Beer.

Outside the Grand Palace

Birds resting along the Stupa

New friends Matt and Haley

Traditional Myanmar Curry with Condiments